Alert over new 'end of world' warning by jailed cult leader

IT'S the end of the world... again? Authorities are on the alert after US cult leader and paedophile Warren Jeffs (pictured) warned his 10,000 followers worldwide to prepare for a New Year's Eve apocalypse.

IT'S the end of the world... again? Authorities are on the alert after US cult leader and paedophile Warren Jeffs (pictured) warned his 10,000 followers worldwide to prepare for a New Year's Eve apocalypse.

Experts now fear that Jeffs' message could send a ''dangerous signal'' to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Since the announcement his followers are preparing for the end of the world after the paedophile warned of a New Year's Eve apocalypse.

Law enforcement officers are monitoring the sect closely.

Private investigator Sam Brower, who represents former members of the cult, said: "The consensus seems to be that Warren is indicating that by the end of the year, the end of the world will be here.'' He added: "Jim Jones, Koresh – history has showed us these things happen when religious zealots take charge of a group of people."

One former member said: ''I've a brother-in-law who told my sister 'if the prophet told me to I'd slit your throat without even thinking about it'."

Warren Jeffs is considered a prophet by members of his church despite currently serving a life sentence for sexually abusing children.

He is claimed to have over 70 'brides' in the community and even from his prison cell reportedly controls exactly where his followers live, whom they marry, how they dress, how they are educated and what they eat.

Last year jurors wept as they heard a graphic tape of the sexual instructions Jeffs gave his brides, some of whom were just children. He warned God would reject them if they did not to submit to his instructions.

''If the world knew what I was doing, they would hang me from the highest tree,'' Jeffs wrote in a diary.

In November he warned a "disastrous cleansing" would occur on December 23 and allegedly blamed his followers' "lack of faith" when it did not happen.